Homemade Glazed Donuts

Instructions

Homemade Donuts

Start by adding the 1/4 cup of lukewarm water, active dry yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar to a small glass measuring cup, whisking together 'til well dissolved. Set aside in a warm place so that the yeast can "proof;" After a few minutes, it should become foamy and roughly double in volume.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour and salt. Set aside.
In a another large mixing bowl or in the bowl of an electric stand mixer, cream the rest of the sugar with the softened butter, 'til well combined.
Beat in each egg, one at a time, 'til incorporated; be sure to stop and scrape up the bottom of the bowl a couple of times, beating in any of the butter/sugar bits that were left behind.
Once your yeast has proofed, go ahead and add it to the egg mixture, and then add the warm buttermilk. Whisk everything together.
Finally, add the dry mixture to the wet mixture, and use a large wooden spoon or a dough scraper to mix everything together for a few minutes, 'til everything is well combined and you have a soft, somewhat sticky dough. If you're using an electric mixer, you'll want to use the dough hook for this step.
Cover your mixing bowl with plastic wrap, and let the dough rise in a warm place for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours**, or 'til roughly doubled in volume.
Once your donut dough has roughly doubled in volume, use a dough scraper or a scraper spatula to turn it out onto a floured work surface. Sprinkle a little flour on top, and roll it out with a rolling pin to about 1/2" thickness, adding more flour as necessary.
Use a donut cutter to cut out your donuts. If you don't want to keep the donut holes, you can re-roll them back out with the scraps, and then cut out more full-size donuts.
Place each donut onto a well floured piece of parchment paper. Cover with a lightweight towel, and let rise for another 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or 'til roughly doubled in size.

Powdered Sugar Glaze

While your donuts are rising, you can go ahead and mix up your powdered sugar glaze. Start by adding the salted butter, vanilla extract, and whole milk to a medium-size saucepan, stirring over medium-low heat 'til the butter has fully melted into the milk.
Once the butter has fully melted into the milk, whisk in both the powdered sugar and the cornstarch 'til the sugar is well dissolved and you have a smooth, somewhat thin donut glaze. The whisk attachment on an electric stand mixer also works well for this.

Frying Homemade Donuts

Once your donuts are close to doubled in size, it's time to heat up the frying oil. I like to use a 9-inch skillet or an electric skillet with about 1-1.5" of oil in the bottom, heating over medium-high heat 'til the oil temperature reaches about 350-375ºF. This usually takes about 5-10 minutes.***
Once your oil temperature is closer to 375ºF, turn the heat down closer to medium (to keep it from getting too hot), and add your donuts. I can usually fit 3 donuts at a time in a 9-inch skillet. Watch your temp and turn the heat up or down accordingly to keep it in that 350-375ºF range.
Watch the donut; once it's gotten to be a nice golden color on the one side, usually about 1-2 minutes, flip it over and let it cook to the same color on the opposite side.
Once cooked to the right color, use a pair of tongs or a fork to pull the donuts out, and place them onto a wire rack on a baking sheet to drip off. Continue until all the donuts are fried.

How to Glaze Donuts

Once all the donuts are fried, drop each one into the powdered sugar glaze in a large mixing bowl, and flip around in the glaze 'til fully coated. Optionally, I then like to slide each donut over a wooden skewer laid across the top of the bowl, up to 3 donuts on the skewer at a time, and then spoon more glaze over them as they drip off into the bowl.
Let the donuts drip off for a few seconds, and then place them onto another piece of parchment paper or baking sheet so that the glaze can harden. Repeat until all the donuts are glazed.
Enjoy! Homemade donuts are best eaten while still warm and freshly glazed right out of the fryer, but they'll last a couple days before going stale. If you're eating them the next day, I recommend popping them in the microwave for 20-30 seconds to soften them back up.

Equipment

Ingredients

Homemade Donuts

Powdered Sugar Glaze

For Frying

Instructions

Homemade Donuts

Powdered Sugar Glaze

Frying Homemade Donuts

How to Glaze Donuts

Notes

Nutrition